Red flags: People Power Antidote?

Today’s Inquirer editorial brings to mind an article in the February 2007 issue of Harper’s Magazine (my favorite magazine). The article is by Edward N. Luttwak and titled  Dead End: Counterinsurgency warfare as military malpractice. Unfortunately, the article still isn’t on line (but you can find Harper’s in some magazine outlets). See the useful reflections and summaries on the piece in The Smirking Chimp (who assesses Luttwak as a thinker, recounts discussions with the writer, and the merits of the article), complete with significant extracts.  The entry is as fascinating as the article it ponders. See, too, extended drum solo’s review of the article.

Also, Rolling Back The Tide of Extremism, One Post At A Time has some quotes from the article, and a quote is in Black Box Miasma, too. Another view in  Daily Blague. See also Blog for Arizona,

This reminds me that Dean Jorge Bocobo in proclaiming the Philippines the “first Iraq,” overlooks two central things the Americans did here, and which they refused to do there (Iraq), which explains much as its embarrassing in retrospect, they succeeded here and are failing there: 1. they assumed all government functions for several years, gradually farmed out jobs, but retained the final say in everything for about a generation; 2. they integrated the rival leadership of the First Republic into their governing apparatus, from the start (no complete “de-Baathification”), allowing them to offer a juicy carrot even when using a formidable stick.

Anyway, taking another cue from DJB (see his critique of the Inquirer editorial, and his view that the Left’s participation in Edsa 2 killed Edsa 1)and the spirited debate he always invites), and the Inquirer editorial, a good question for discussion arises. If the Communist Party of the Philippines hadn’t boycotted the 1986 Snap Elections, would the Edsa Revolution have been possible at all? And if groups associated with the Left hadn’t participated in Edsa Dos, would it have failed, or been larger and actually achieved a stronger impetus for reform? And finally, if red flags hadn’t been prevalent in the public arena since 2005, would more people have gone out to the streets?

My Arab News column for this week is The Beauty of the Press Is That We’re Essentially Accountable.

Technorati Tags: Blogging, ideas, journalism, media, people power, war

Compressed air car

Ellen Tordesillas recounts the braggadocio -turns out it was a bluff- of the President’s husband. More details in Newsbreak.

Pangasinan politics gets messy: bad news for the Speaker. Manny Pacquiao might beat a strategic retreat. Whether true or not he says he’ll campaign for the party list Partido ng Bayaning Atleta -and the Comelec can still justify disqualifying Ang Ladlad??

Filomeno Sta. Ana III explains why he’s not impressed with the economic bragging of the administration.

Davao Diaries encounters a child whose parents were liquidated. A Nagueño in the Blogosphere offers up a reflection on people power.

Last week I received this text message:

PLS patronize pirated DVD’s so that the Filipino movie industry will die & we will no longer have actors, actresses, nor their spouses running for public office. Pls pass.

And reacted negatively to it. Gibbs Cadiz explains why it’s a silly appeal. Red’s Herring delves into the same phenomenon.

Purple Phoenix won’t vote for Pangilinan. Philippine Politics 04 tries to clarify the issues in the elections. Administration tries to justify using government broadcast resources to air its proclamation rally.

Max Limpag has an amusing story.

This is truly interesting news, courtesy of A Hundred Years Hence. Cars that run on compressed air. I can see the jokes coming -20,000 miles to the congressman!

The concerns of creative people: to the tale, and other concerns on how much is a story worth? And Morofilm on being cautioned concerning the topic of his ongoing documentary project. The Bunker Chronicles on avoiding the spotlight when mentoring young people.

Technorati Tags: Edsa, elections, military, people power, philippines, politics, Senate, society

The Long View: A year of murder

THE LONG VIEW
A year of murder 

By Manuel L. Quezon III
Inquirer
First Posted 01:34am (Mla time) 02/26/2007

 

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

THUS BEGINS A WELL-LOVED POEM, ROBERT Frost’s “The Road Not Taken.” Blame it on my unsophisticated, even literal (when it comes to poetic imagery), literary tastes, but the poem came to my mind because of three things: a story, an anniversary and a report.

This story was told to me, several weeks ago, by the person who washes my hair whenever I get my haircut. As so often happens, it began with my being asked, and expressing an opinion, on current events. What, I was gently asked, did I think of the militarization of the countryside. I said I opposed it.

Silence at first met my remark, and then, slowly, even diffidently, the story began to unfold. The salon attendant is from San Jose, Nueva Ecija. He gets to return home only on major holidays, and briefly, at that. But with every visit comes a sharing of tales among friends and family.

When the military showed up in their town, a great fact-checking began. Army men pored over barangay records to see who among the residents had records of some sort. Each and every one received a summons to the barangay hall: collectively, all were told, they would be watched from now on.

The nature of the records ranged from petty complaints to cases of actual crimes. No distinctions were made as to the nature or the gravity of the offenses: anyone who was a subject of any kind of documented complaint would henceforth be a person of interest to the military.

The salon attendant’s brother is a tricycle driver, and had a “record” (because of a quarrel with a driver of another vehicle) in the barangay. He, too, received his summons. He wasn’t able to make it at the appointed place and time, because he had a passenger at the time. When he did show up, the military manhandled him.

This indiscriminate attitude toward the town’s residents was combined, of course, with the better-known manifestations of military interests in rural areas: the demands for residence certificates; the monitoring of homes and residents; the haranguing of members of the community to denounce and oppose communists. Residents were even encouraged to support the administration’s efforts to amend the Constitution.

And what was your community’s experience with the New People’s Army, I asked? Only this, the salon attendant replied: There was a policeman who was notorious for his involvement in the drug trade. He was issued warnings and then liquidated by a communist hit squad.

And what is your community’s experience with the Armed Forces of the Philippines, I asked? Beyond the personal woes of his brother, the attendant replied, a feeling of fear and unease pervades their town. Because the military isn’t discriminating, a barangay complaint immediately results in an interrogation—people have learned to use the military to settle old grudges and old scores. Even an anonymous complaint by text brings the soldiers to one’s doorstep, not necessarily with fatal consequences; nonetheless, the experience leaves behind unpleasant, sometimes painful, memories.

Yesterday’s Edsa anniversary and the release of the Alston statement and the Melo report, combined with that story in San Jose, brought Frost’s poem to mind. It seems to me that quite a few people consider the Melo Report and the Alston statement a crossroads. They are not. The two documents are not a crossroads; the 20th anniversary of Edsa was. We reached that point of decision a year ago, and we, that is, the country, have been traveling the wide highway, the easy path, the fast lane to “economic progress”—but also, the cemetery lane since then.

To be sure, the oath leading to the crossroads began at different stages for different people: in 2001, in 2004, in 2005. The yellow wood has defined our existence since 1986, each crossroads within it until 2001 basically saw our sticking to the more difficult democratic path, the path of people power, the path of peace. We might stray from that path from time to time, but both leaders and followers would try to return to it.

Last year the crossroads was reached, and in the yellow wood that is our country, the decision was made to clear the forest: one by one, basic assumptions we had accepted since 1986 were cut down like so many trees: CPR was the official repudiation of protest as an integral part of the democratic process; EO 464 was the repudiation of the principle of checks and balances; the State of Emergency, the escalating—and sustained—assault on media whether through outright murder, the intimidation of owners, or the flood of suits filed in court by officials and non-officials alike, were the repudiation of the freedom of speech. We saw toothpicks made out of our freedoms, and too many hailed them as the signs of progress.

And so, as Frost’s poem concludes, so too must we conclude that too many have not taken the lonelier road—and will come to regret it. Unlike the poet who expressed an ultimate, though weary satisfaction with his less-traveled path—too many have refused to make a difference.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

A year of murder

Can the economics-minded please answer this question: when we have news of a roaring stock market, no one ever explains just how big, or small, the stock market is, and thus, how important it is, really, in the economic scale of things.

The decision of Pangilinan to go it alone (and his being booted as a guest candidate of the opposition, as Amando Doronila advised) frees up the 12th slot for a candidate I’d regretted being unable to support until this opportunity came along. So my 12th vote is going to Danton Remoto.

How other people (particularly young people) are deciding on their senatorial votes makes for interesting reading. See the choices of The Morning Eclipse, and April’s Site, as well as Cold Weather, as well as Kiss The Rain. Most interesting of all was the mock survey conducted by Manila Boy. General observations on the campaign from My Silent Scream and quasi_stoic.

My column for today is A year of murder. What’s been a bad week for the Philippines, as Torn and Frayed puts it, has been long in the making. The Inquirer editorial takes another look at the Alston statement.

Liling Briones (former national treasurer) brings up the rmotor vehicle user’s tax:

Vehicle owners—and there are millions in the Philippines—know all about the Motor Vehicle User’s Charge (MVUC). This is the charge which is imposed on all vehicles. The law provides that the funds generated will go to the maintenance of roads throughout the country. The fund is managed by a Road Board.

How the fund is managed, disbursed and accounted for is therefore of interest to all Filipinos, especially those who own vehicles.

For the past two years, the Commission on Audit has rendered qualified opinions on the fairness of presentation of the financial statements of the MVUC. The 2005 audit report has 15 detailed findings which should raise the hackles of citizens. The report mentions the case of one contractor who was paid twice for the same amount of P373,05.88.

COA further noted that the Repairs and Maintenance account was overstated by the huge amount of over P124 million! It admonished the concerned offices to “refrain from utilizing the MVUC Fund for purposes other than those for which it was released/intended…”

Another finding is that expenses “not related to the implementation of the Road Maintenance Project and Motor Vehicles Pollution Control Programs totaling P 57.3 million were charged to the MVUC funds…”

These are just three of the COA findings which are based on financial reports and documents. What is more enraging is what is not in the COA report. This is the sharing system. As mentioned earlier, many congressmen have raised their share of the cost of projects implemented in their region to 50 percent! If the bureaucrats pocket 15 percent, DPWH retains 3.5 percent which is required by law, and the contractor wants a 10 percent profit, how much is left for the project? A mere 21.5 percent of total funds! 

Overseas, History Unfolding says the USA is still losing in Iraq and compares it to Vietnam in 1963. Blog Them Out Of The Stone Age looks at the “guns for felons” program. One thing our media isn’t reporting is how the Iraq War has surely expanded a traditional path for immigration to the Us for Filipinos: the US armed forces. Last Saturday, at Clark, the hotel was filled with US Army and Air Force personnel, including quite a few Filipinos, either Fil-Ams or (in at least one case I saw and overheard, a Capangpangan whose parents got to visit their serviceman son) Filipinos.

Technorati Tags: elections, philippines, politics, Senate

Edsa at 21

The reflections on the Edsa Revolution are invariably wistful, even touching, though some conclusions are of course, harsh. There are those of course, for whom it was never harsh or inexorable enough. For others, it served as an inspiration for future people power, which despite all that’s happened since can still be remembered as a high point in many young people’s lives. A very good observation is that if people power has been defanged, it’s thanks, in no small part, to the Catholic Church.

Yet as editorials both in Manila and in the provinces note, people power continues to live on at least as an ideal. The PCIJ comments on the irony of a beleaguered military facing human rights questions as it did 21 years ago.

But the writing on the wall was there for everyone to see it, in Edsa and Fort Bonifacio, a year ago. It seems like a lifetime, since: and as if we’ve come full circle. When the President began speaking of “first world status” by 2020, it reminded me the resolution of all this -all that’s been going on since 2004- may be  13 more years in the future.

Technorati Tags: people power, philippines

Country swings to the Right

Agence France-Presse notes the Edsa anniversary passed without comment. The Inquirer editorial explains why: we have come full circle, as Amando Doronila points out -the country has drifted to the Right.

The government faced a double whammy with the UN Special Rapporteur’s statements (see the end of this post, for his statement reproduced in full) and that of the Melo Commission: the President’s coddling of Palparan is a chicken come home to roost. The government’s response, besides the usual reflex call for “calm”, was to release a video of Jose Ma. Sison (a very interesting one, indeed, if genuine: as Tingog.com points out, Inquirer.net has put it up on YouTube for the viewer to judge; Tingog has a clip from GMA7, and he also states Sison’s reaction: “it’s a fake!”), and call the UN official “in denial.”

Please read Alston’s report, as he explains why the Melo Commission’s efforts are unsatisfactory; he also looks into the question of human rights abuses in a very objective manner, refuting the claim it’s all a Communist exaggeration quite well, as he does the view that it’s a gigantic politico-military conspiracy. After you read the UN Rapporteur’s statement, it might help put in context the debate going on on the CPP-NPA-NDF and organizations, including some party list groups, accused of being Communist fronts.

One thing is sure: the government is trying to salvage its reversal of two decades of policy and wants to cling to its strategy of all out war. December 26, 2007 marked the 38th anniversary of the New People’s Army. The three sides that form the politico-military triangulation of the CPP-NPA-NDF, that is, the building up of the party; its armed struggle in the countryside; and the building up of front organizations or the cultivation of helpful, sympathetic ones, all feature in the debate on how the CPP-NPAS-NDF should be viewed in terms of the anti-terror law, etc.

Writing in Asean Focus Group, Filipino scholar Patricio Abinales penned a fascinating summary of where the armed component of the Communist Party of the Philippines is at:

…The NPA has largely survived on its own, amassing its weapons from carefully planned small attacks against government forces. Military victories in the countryside have been complemented by successes in ‘revolutionary taxation’. Businesses and entrepreneurs operating in the rural areas have now come to include NPA extortion as part of their annual budgets, with such allotments sometimes going as high as 2 million pesos.

These triumphs have prompted the Party’s eternal chairman Jose Ma Sison to encourage the formation of larger company-size units to replace the smaller platoons. But this move has been a major stumbling block for the NPA. Larger units will need better weapons and these can only come from abroad. Unless the Party taps into the illegal arms trade now prospering out of the Middle East, it will not be able to make that shift.

Moreover, the CPP’s experience with arms imports has been largely traumatic. In its early years it botched two attempts to bring in arms from China, largely the result of the ineptitude of those assigned to undertake the task. In the 1980s, CPP emissaries also failed to convince the Palestine Liberation Organization, the Nicaraguans and the North Koreans to sell them sophisticated armaments.

But the bigger problem will be in the battlefield. The NPA may outmatch the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in guerrilla warfare, but the latter, despite its failings, is still a better fighting force, especially with the United States as expected coming to its aid.

The upgrading to company-size units was one of the major issues that led to the debates in the 1980s and the assassination of the Romulo Kintanar, the former NPA chief, by Sison loyalists in January 2003. In justifying the gangland style killing of Kintanar, the CPP reiterated its criticism of his attempt to ‘prematurely regularize’ the CPP (ie, shift to a company and battalion formation) under his leadership – an attempt that devastated the NPA.

But the dilemma has come back to haunt the Party today now that the NPA has just about returned to the level it was in 1980. The unfortunate thing is that none of its current commanders have the talent and capacity that Kintanar had in shaping the revolutionary army into a nationally potent force during the era of the Marcos dictatorship.

WATCHPOINT: Though almost returned to its strength as of 1980, the NPA lacks the operational leadership that it had during the 1970s. The war in the Philippine countryside will most likely enter into an enduring, even permanent state of intermittent small clashes. And in these constant exchanges of gunfire between state and revolutionary forces, it is the communities caught in between which will likely suffer.

What do Socialists and Communists believe in, however? Red Flags is full of praises for the movement, and reproduces the anniversary statement of the CPP Central Committee:

Let us joyously celebrate the 38th anniversary of the reestablishment of the Communist Party of the Philippines under the theoretical guidance of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought (Maoism) and on the basis of the history and concrete circumstances of the Filipino people.

This is a time to celebrate our revolutionary victories… and renew our resolve to lead and advance the Filipino people’s struggle for national liberation and democracy against US imperialism and the local exploiting classes of big compradors and landlords.

Let us salute and congratulate all our Party cadres and members for all the victories won by holding high the banner of working class leadership and leading the broad masses of the people in life-and-death struggles with the enemy…

We must further strengthen the Party ideologically, politically and organizationally. We must build on our solid achievements won under the inspiration of the Second Great Rectification Movement and through hard work and fearless struggle. Only thus can we lead the Filipino people to a new and higher level of revolutionary struggle through revolutionary armed struggle and the united front…

The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) has consistently asserted that peace negotiations with the Government of the Republic of the Philippines are still ongoing in the absence of any side properly terminating the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees. It has repeatedly called for the resumption of formal talks upon the resolution of prejudicial questions, such as the so-called terrorist listing of the CPP, NPA and chief political consultant, the gross violations of human rights under Oplan Bantay Laya, the release of political prisoners and the indemnification of victims of human rights violations under the Marcos regime.

The NDFP has gone so far as to offer a concise immediate agreement for a just and lasting peace, which would serve to commit both the NDFP and GRP to definite principled points of agreement in the national and democratic interest of the Filipino. Such an offer is in response to the unjust demand of the GRP for surrender of arms or an indefinite ceasefire without agreement on substantive issues. It would lead to a truce in the civil war….

The CPP then remains blunt about its desire to wage revolutionary war, but continues to proclaim itself as desiring peace. Yet the movement itself, which once pined for “The East is Red” blaring from Beijing loudspeakers, now denounces the land of Mao (excerpt from the CPP Central Committee statement of December 26):

China has the appearance of prosperity, which is real for less than 10% of its people, but which has relegated more than 90% of its people to suffer exploitation even more rapacious than, and oppression similar to pre-1949 conditions. Sweatshops, migrant workers, vagabonds and beggars abound. Workers frequently undertake protest actions against reduced real incomes and mass layoffs. Thousands of peasant uprisings have been launched against the arbitrary grabbing of land by bureaucrats and capitalist enterprises. A revolutionary communist party inspired by Maoism can take advantage of the fertile conditions for revolution. The phoney communists in power so far still succeed in destroying even the good name of real communists.

Let them be anathema!

Here is the statement of Alston distributed at the press conference held February 21, at the Renaissance Hotel in Makati.

PRESS STATEMENT

Professor Phillip Alston, Special Rapporteur of the United Nations Human Rights Council on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions.

Manila, 21 February 2007

I have spent the past ten days in the Philippines at the invitation of the Government in order to inquire into the phenomenon of extrajudicial executions. I am very grateful to the Government for the unqualified cooperation extended to me. During my stay here I have met with virtually all of the relevant senior officials of Government. They include the President, the Executive Secretary, the National Security Adviser, the Secretaries for Defense, Justice, DILG and the Peace Process. I have also met with a significant number of members of Congress on different sides of the political spectrum, the Chief Justice, the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the Chair of the Human Rights Commission, the Ombudsman, the members of both sides of the Joint Monitoring Committee, and representatives of the MNLF and MILF. Of particular relevance to my specific concerns, I also met with Task Force Usig, and with the Melo Commission, and I have received the complete dossier compiled by TF Usig, as well as the report of the Melo Commission, and the responses to its findings by the AFP and by retired Maj-Gen Palparan. I have also visited Baguio and Davao and met with the regional Human Rights Commission offices, local PNP and AFP commanders, and the Mayor of Davao, among others.

Equally importantly, roughly half of my time here was devoted to meetings with representatives of civil society, in Manila, Baguio, and Davao . Through their extremely valuable contributions in the form of documentation and detailed testimony I have learned a great deal.

Let me begin by acknowledging several important elements. The first is that the Government’s invitation to visit reflects a clear recognition of the gravity of the problem, a willingness to permit outside scrutiny, and a very welcome preparedness to engage on this issue. The assurances that I received from the President, in particular, were very encouraging. Second, I note that my visit takes place within the context of a counter-insurgency operation which takes place on a range of fronts, and I do not in any way underestimate the resulting challenges facing for the Government and the AFP. Third, I wish to clarify that my formal role is to report to the UN Human Rights Council and to the Government on the situation I have found. I consider that the very fact of my visit has already begun the process of acting as a catalyst to deeper reflection on these issues both within the national and international settings. Finally, I must emphasize that the present statement is only designed to give a general indication of some, but by no means all, of the issues to be addressed, and the recommendations put forward, in my final report. I expect that will be available sometime within the next three months.

Sources of information

The first major challenge for my mission was to obtain detailed and well supported information. I have been surprised by both the amount and the quality of information provided to me. Most key Government agencies are organized and systematic in much of their data collection and classification. Similarly, Philippines civil society organizations are generally sophisticated and professional. I sought, and obtained, meetings across the entire political spectrum. I leave the Philippines with a wealth of information to be processed in the preparation of my final report.

But the question has still been posed as to whether the information provided to me by either all, or at least certain, local NGO groups can be considered reliable. The word ‘propaganda’ was used by many of my interlocutors. What I took them to mean was that the overriding goal of the relevant groups in raising EJE questions was to gain political advantage in the context of a broader battle for public opinion and power, and that the HR dimensions were secondary at best. Some went further to suggest that many of the cases were fabricated, or at least trumped up, to look more serious than they are.

I consider it essential to respond to these concerns immediately. First, there is inevitably a propaganda element in such allegations. The aim is to win public sympathy and to discredit other actors. But the existence of a propaganda dimension does not, in itself, destroy the credibility of the information and allegations. I would insist, instead, on the need to apply several tests relating to credibility. First, is it only NGOs from one part of the politicaI spectrum who are making these allegations? The answer is clearly ‘no’.

Human rights groups in the Philippines range across the entire spectrum in terms of their political sympathies, but I met no groups who challenged the basic fact that large numbers of extrajudicial executions are taking place, even if they disagreed on precise figures. Second, how compelling is the actual information presented? I found there was considerable variation ranging from submissions which were entirely credible and contextually aware all the way down to some which struck me as superficial and dubious. But the great majority are closer to the top of that spectrum than to the bottom. Third, has the information proved credible under cross-examination’.  My colleagues and I heard a large number of cases in depth and we probed the stories presented to us in order to ascertain their accuracy and the broader context.

As a result, I believe that I have gathered a huge amount of data and certainly much more than has been made available to any one of the major national inquiries.

Extent of my focus

My focus goes well beyond that adopted by either TF Usig or the Melo Commission, both of which are concerned essentially with political and media killings. Those specific killings are, in many ways, a symptom of a much more extensive problem and we should not permit our focus to be limited artificially. The TF Usig/Melo scope of inquiry is inappropriate for me for several reasons:

(a) The approach is essentially reactive. It is not based on an original assessment of what is going on in the country at large, but rather on what a limited range of CSOs report. As a result, the focus then is often shifted (unhelpfully) to the orientation of the CSO, the quality of the documentation in particular cases, etc.;

(b) Many killings are not reported, or not pursued, and for good reason; and

(c) A significant proportion of acknowledged cases of ‘disappearances’ involve individuals who have been killed but who are not reflected in the figures.

How many have been killed?

The numbers game is especially unproductive, although a source of endless fascination. Is it 25, 100, or 800? I don’t have a figure. But I am certain that the number is high enough to be distressing. Even more importantly, numbers are not what count. The impact of even a limited number of killings of the type alleged is corrosive in many ways. It intimidates vast numbers of civil society actors, it sends a message of vulnerability to all but the most well connected, and it severely undermines the political discourse which is central to a resolution of the problems confronting this country.

Permit me to make a brief comment on the term ‘unexplained killings’, which is used by officials and which I consider to be inapt and misleading. It may be appropriate in the context of a judicial process but human rights inquiries are more broad-ranging and one does not have to wait for a court to secure a conviction before one can conclude that human rights violations are occurring. The term ‘extrajudicial killings’ which has a long pedigree is far more accurate and should be used.

Typology

It may help to specify the types of killing which are of particular concern in the Philippines:

- *Killings by military and police, and by the NPA or other groups, in course of counter-insurgency. To the extent that such killings take place in conformity with the rules of international humanitarian law they fall outside my mandate.

- *Killings not in the course of any armed engagement but in pursuit of a specific counter-insurgency operation in the field.

- *Killings, whether attributed to the military, the police, or private actors, of activists associated with leftist groups and usually deemed or assumed to be covertly assisting CPP-NPA-NDF. Private actors include hired thugs in the pay of politicians, landowners, corporate interests, and others.

- *Vigilante, or death squad, killings

- *Killings of journalists and other media persons.

- *’Ordinary’ murders facilitated by the sense of impunity that exists.

Response by the Government

The response of Government to the crisis of extrajudicial executions varies dramatically. There has been a welcome acknowledgement of the seriousness of the problem at the very top. At the executive level the messages have been very mixed and often unsatisfactory. And at the operational level, the allegations have too often been met with a response of incredulity, mixed with offence.

Explanations proffered

When I have sought explanations of the killings I have received a range of answers.

(i) The allegations are essentially propaganda. I have addressed this dimension already.

(ii) The allegations are fabricated. Much importance was attached to two persons who had been listed as killed, but who were presented to me alive. Two errors, in circumstances which might partly explain the mistakes, do very little to discredit the vast number of remaining allegations.

(iii) The theory that the ‘correct, accurate, and truthful’ reason for the recent rise in killings lies in purges committed by the CPP/NPA. This theory was relentlessly pushed by the AFP and many of my Government interlocutors. But we must distinguish the number of 1,227 cited by the military from the limited number of cases in which the CPP/NPA have acknowledged, indeed boasted, of killings. While such cases have certainly occurred, even those most concerned about them, such as members of Akbayan, have suggested to me that they could not amount to even 10% of the total killings.

The evidence offered by the military in support of this theory is especially unconvincing. Human rights organizations have documented very few such cases. The AFP relies instead on figures and trends relating to the purges of the late 1980s, and on an alleged CPP/NPA document captured in May 2006 describing Operation Bushfire. In the absence of much stronger supporting evidence this particular document bears all the hallmarks of a fabrication and cannot be taken as evidence of anything other than disinformation.

(iv) Some killings may have been attributable to the AFP, but they were committed by rogue elements. There is little doubt that some such killings have been committed. The AFP needs to give us precise details and to indicate what investigations and prosecutions have been undertaken in response. But, in any event, the rogue elephant theory does not explain or even address the central questions with which we are concerned.

Some major challenges for the future

(a) Acknowledgement by the AFP
The AFP remains in a state of almost total denial (as its official response to the Melo Report amply demonstrates) of its need to respond effectively and authentically to the significant number of killings which have been convincingly attributed to them. The President needs to persuade the military that its reputation and effectiveness will be considerably enhanced, rather than undermined, by acknowledging the facts and taking genuine steps to investigate. When the Chief of the AFP contents himself with telephoning Maj-Gen Palparan three times in order to satisfy himself that the persistent and extensive allegations against the General were entirely unfounded, rather than launching a thorough internal investigation, it is clear that there is still a very long way to go.

(b) Moving beyond the Melo Commission
It is not for me to evaluate the Melo Report. That is for the people of the Philippines to do. The President showed good faith in responding to allegations by setting up an independent commission. But the political and other capital that should have followed is being slowly but surely drained away by the refusal to publish the report. The justifications given are unconvincing. The report was never intended to be preliminary or interim. The need to get ‘leftists’ to testify is no reason to withhold a report which in some ways at least vindicates their claims. And extending a Commission whose composition has never succeeded in winning full cooperation seems unlikely to cure the problems still perceived by those groups. Immediate release of the report is an essential first step.

(c) The need to restore accountability
The focus on TF Usig and Melo is insufficient. The enduring and much larger challenge is to restore the various accountability mechanisms that the Philippines Constitution and Congress have put in place over the years, too many of which have been systematically drained of their force in recent years. I will go into detail in my final report, but suffice it to note for present purposes that Executive Order 464, and its replacement, Memorandum Circular 108, undermine significantly the capacity of Congress to hold the executive to account in any meaningful way.

(d) Witness protection
The vital flaw which undermines the utility of much of the judicial system is the problem of virtual impunity that prevails. This, in turn, is built upon the rampant problem of witness vulnerability. The present message is that if you want to preserve your life expectancy, don’t act as a witness in a criminal prosecution for killing. Witnesses are systematically intimidated and harassed. In a relatively poor society, in which there is heavy dependence on community and very limited real geographical mobility, witnesses are uniquely vulnerable when the forces accused of killings are all too often those, or are linked to those, who are charged with ensuring their security. The WPP is impressive — on paper. In practice, however, it is deeply flawed and would seem only to be truly effective in a very limited number of cases. The result, as one expert suggested to me, is that 8 out of 10 strong cases, or 80% fail to move from the initial investigation to the actual prosecution stage.

(e) Acceptance of the need to provide legitimate political space for leftist groups
At the national level, there has been a definitive abandonment of President Ramos’ strategy of reconciliation. This might be termed the Sinn Fein strategy. It involves the creation of an opening — the party-list system — for leftist groups to enter the democratic political system, while at the same time acknowledging that some of those groups remain very sympathetic to the armed struggle being waged by illegal groups (the IRA in the Irish case, or the NPA in the Philippines case). The goal is to provide an incentive for such groups to enter mainstream politics and to see that path as their best option.

Neither the party-list system nor the repeal of the Anti-Subversion Act has been reversed by Congress. But, the executive branch, openly and enthusiastically aided by the military, has worked resolutely to circumvent the spirit of these legislative decisions by trying to impede the work of the party-list groups and to put in question their right to operate freely. The idea is not to destroy the NPA but to eliminate organizations that support many of its goals and do not actively disown its means. While non-violent in conception, there are cases in which it has, certainly at the local level, spilled over into decisions to extrajudicially execute those who cannot be reached by legal process.

(f) Re-evaluate problematic aspects of counter-insurgency strategy
The increase in extrajudicial executions in recent years is attributable, at least in part, to a shift in counterinsurgency strategy that occurred in some areas, reflecting the considerable regional variation in the strategies employed, especially with respect to the civilian population. In some areas, an appeal to hearts- and-minds is combined with an attempt to vilify left-leaning organizations and to intimidate leaders of such organizations. In some instances, such intimidation escalates into extrajudicial execution. This is a grave and serious problem and one which I intend to examine in detail in my final report.

Conclusion

The Philippines remains an example to all of us in terms of the peaceful ending of martial law by the People’s Revolution, and the adoption of a Constitution reflecting a powerful commitment to ensure respect for human rights. The various measures ordered by the President in response to Melo constitute important first steps, but there is a huge amount that remains to be done.

The Alston statement in PDF format (from Inquirer.net):

And here’s the Melo report:

And the anti-terrorism bill (also from Inquirer.net, you may want to compare it to the PCIJ’s version posted yesterday):

And because not everything can revolve around politics: colossal squid caught.

Technorati Tags: media, military, people power, philippines, politics, president

The Long View: An assessment

THE LONG VIEW
An assessment 

 

By Manuel L. Quezon III
Inquirer
First Posted 00:55am (Mla time) 02/22/2007

 

In its latest issue, Katipunan Magazine asked me to write on the 1990s. Here’s what I wrote.

A FAMOUS Atenean, Leon Ma. Guerrero, once wrote of martial law thus, “Today began yesterday,” by way of explanation and apologia. Today’s pragmatic present began yesterday, too. How often have we heard it said in the more idealistic premises of our schools, that in this time of democratic danger, an irony confronts us. For only a free people can afford to be contemptuous of democracy and its liberties. And worse, confusing this contempt with freedom itself, is something that began not in 2005 or 2001, but in 1991, during the happy ’90s.

The achievements of the three administrations of the 1990s — the end of Corazon Aquino’s, the Fidel Ramos years, and the beginning of Joseph Estrada’s — are embarrassingly brief, in concrete terms: some flyovers, the breaking of the PLDT telecom monopoly, two presidential elections. What the 1990s were really about was the transformation of being Filipino — and the Philippines — from a land of pride and promises, to a land of broken dreams and self-shame.

The limitless optimism of the early Aquino years found itself reduced in scope and ambition to simply hoping it would end peacefully and when promised. And so Cory Aquino — and the nation — breathed a sigh of relief when she stepped down from power; she broke tradition by being the first president to attend a successor’s inauguration, but that inauguration after the failed coups of ’87 and ’89, had become the end-all and be-all of her government. Success was no longer about achievement, it was about surviving long enough to pass the baton.

Ramos achieved the disintegration, and not the creation, of a middle ground in politics. His victory was not about getting a majority, which was the goal of presidents since 1935, when we had our first national elections. Instead, his goal was to get a little more than anyone else but also to ensure no one got more than the tiny percentage he realistically expected to get. He was elected by 28 percent of the electorate: No president before, or since, has obtained power with so unimpressive a minority.

“Dagdag-bawas” [vote-padding and vote-shaving], too, dates to the Ramos campaign; and his viability as a candidate announced by a group that included military cronies raiding the House of Representatives and exposing the use of its printing press to produce paraphernalia for the leading candidate, Ramon Mitra Jr. He did not fight clean; who would expect anyone else thereafter to fight cleanly?

Then came Joseph Ejercito Estrada who achieved with one electoral victory what 40 years of anti-insurgency had not: the collapse of Communism as a political force and threat. His victory also marked the defeat of the old Edsa People Power coalition, whose candidates couldn’t unite, while individually being no match for Estrada, the unrepentant Marcos loyalist.

Estrada’s victory, though percentage-wise unimpressive (39.6 percent, which didn’t even match forgotten Carlos P. Garcia’s 40 percent in 1957), was a landslide in that his votes dwarfed any two of his opponents combined. It was a vindication, in a sense, of the Marcos-era methods and machinery; it was a political rehabilitation that could have come sooner had Imelda Marcos and Eduardo Cojuangco not split their votes in 1992.

Populism is nationalism and it would have been positively revolutionary to have a national leader genuinely held in affection by the people; this was the promise and the potential in Estrada’s rise to power. But to be proven a false populist and to betray affection is to court not only contempt, but to risk a gloating reaction. It is to replace optimism with the sense that one has been had, and thus, invite self-loathing. It’s fair to say that while no one had illusions about Estrada’s morals, no one expected him to be so lazy or to be so greedy — not even in Marcos’ cunning, corporate-lawyer way — along the lines of a small-town politician’s adoration of rackets.

And so the country vomited out Estrada. Perhaps everything since has been tolerable, but far from appetizing? But the bitter medicine of democracy’s defeated idealism — that by political means, we can improve our lives, together — has been the promotion of a dog-eat-dog mentality. We failed together, perhaps, we can succeed individually, and so to hell with democracy, idealism, collective action or any effort to create a common cause.

And so, to assess all three is to assess ourselves. We do not like what we saw, we continue to dislike what we see. Collective self-loathing is what the country has undergone since: and collective contempt for everything that once served as inspiration but which now ends up, at best, a tired, unsatisfying parody of all that came before: Arroyo as the mean-minded, mean-spirited heir (now disowned) of Aquino; Fernando Poe Jr. as the ill-fated and ill-suited successor of Estrada; and Ramos reduced to being an opportunist and no longer — perhaps never, ever — a statesman.

The Philippines has not been an optimistic place since; at least, not since 2001, when People Power reasserted itself but was vanquished in months (January to May). And yet, let’s remember it took a decade — 1987 to 1997 — for the original Edsa People Power to exhaust its possibilities and promises. Edsa People Power II took some 100 days, from January to late April, for its luster to tarnish.

* * *

Concerning my previous column, Willy Prilles Jr. writes in his blog that we need to end “the silent practice allowing congressmen to practically appoint public school teachers to new permanent items that are being funded annually in the national budget… The Iloilo mayors were particularly vocal about this demoralizing practice, complaining that unqualified applicants — backed by the congressman — usually end up getting the available items, to the consternation of more experienced and better suited ones.”

The anti-panic law

The armed forces are irked by comments by a UN human rights official. Palace says it will relent and release the Melo report. Ernesto Hilario thinks the UN official’s pressure may be cause for hope for human rights advocates.

Despite an attempt by Philippine Commentary to propose a definition of terrorism, the fact remains that we are about to enter an era in which legislation defines terrorism in terms of existing crimes- piracy or mutiny on the high seas; rebellion or insurrection; coup d’etat (“including acts committed by private persons”); murder; kidnapping; “crimes involving destruction”; arson; toxic or nuclear waste transport violations; hi-jacking; highway robbery; illegal trade, manufacture, or possession of firearms or explosives; -and perpetrating those crimes to engage in terrorism, which the law defines as:

[the above acts and the commission of which] “thereby sowing and creating a condition of widespread and extraordinary fear and panic among the populace, in order to coerce the government to give in to an unlawful demand shall be guilty of the crime of terrorism.”

Any group can be declared a terrorist organization if it is organized for the purpose of conducting terrorism, or which “although not organized for that purpose, actually uses the acts to terrorize mentioned in this Act or to sow and create a condition of widespread extraordinary fear and panic among the populace in order to coerce the government to give in to an unlawful demand.” This could range, depending on those wanting to enforce it, on anything ranging from wearing a t-shirt, to a strike, a protest, a rally, a religious gathering, etc., etc., etc.

In other words, terrorism itself is not clearly defined: or to be precise, it is designed in terms of a convenience -it gives to the executive branch of government a breadth of discretion no executive should be given on such a scale for something so unclear as “widespread and extraordinary fear and panic” for “unlawful demands”.

More useful to my mind, would have been the creation of some sort of mechanism, perhaps a special Anti Terror Tribunal, to authorize either the thwarting of a terrorist conspiracy in progress, or to apprehend and punish the perpetrators on a case to case basis.

Let us assume that terrorism is like smut. As an American supreme court justice famously put it, “I couldn’t define pornography for you but I know it when I see it.” Could a law to prevent 911 have been crafted? Only after the fact; and to punish its perpetrators and prevent a similar atrocity.

Therefore: if there is a valid case to clamp down on those involved in a terrorist conspiracy, why not a special tribunal that would use some sort of judicial benchmarks, instead of what is the equivalent of a carte blanche for the executive branch? If it is to punish an act, let it begin with an official consensus on an act being a case of terrorism. Let the chief executive transmit to Congress a request for a joint resolution stating an act was terrorism, and authorizing the security and armed forces to utilize the law for an identified target. Surely public opinion would then have a chance to either temper or validate such a call.

Instead, what the law sets up is a new cabinet cluster to handle the application of the law: composed of the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of National Defense, the National Security Adviser, the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, and the Secretary of Finance.

Most of all, as I advocated some time back, the law does not carry in it any expiration date, which would require a review of the law prior to its reenactment. See the mechanisms involved in Canada’s Anti Terrorism Act. The handling of terrorism-related investigations has caused a political ruckus in Canada, and a furious debate which serves as a cautionary tale. This law is the tail end of our pandering puppy like devotion to Bush’s War on Terror just when the rest of the world is debating whether the whole thing has created more problems than it tried to address.

Here is the text of the anti terrorism act. It’s from the PCIJ blog. Whoever their source was left interesting marginal notes on their copy of the bill.

Incidentally, a law of this magnitude was arrived at with very few opportunities for the public to find out what was under discussion or what was even approved. The websites of both chambers of Congress have not published the proposed bills or amendments in a timely fashion; there is no way of finding out exactly who voted for or against; when the law is signed, it will be published in the newspapers (at several hundred thousand pesos per publication, which makes the papers happy, and allows Congress to play favorites by deciding where to make placements) but no useful, accessible record will be created. The Official Gazette remains off line, it is not updated properly, it is not distributed widely, it cannot be referenced conveniently.

My column for today is An Assessment, it reprints an article commissioned by Katipunan Magazine.

Finally, I’d like to share some thoughts, for discussion,  on the economy as it actually is, and how it could be, from an economist, Filomeno Sta. Ana III, of the Action for Economic Reforms (emphasis added is mine):

To achieve sustainable, equitable growth, the economy must grow above 6.5 percent over the long term (20-25 years), as the examples of successful high-growth countries like China, Vietnam and India show.

And such growth comes from sustained investments, which likewise create jobs.

Present growth is below six percent. It is mainly driven by consumption, thanks to OFW remittances. (The OFW phenomenon, to be sure is a symptom of a larger problem—that our economy can’t provide quality jobs to the labor force.) Consumption-led growth cannot be sustained.

So the key is to spur investments.  But investments that will create production and jobs are scarce.  There is lack of investor confidence in the country.  Among the reasons are:  the political instability brought about by serious questions on GMA’s legitimacy, the unpredictability of policy and the reversal of rules of the game (think PIATCO), weak infrastructure (government under-spending in infrastructure), peace and order, widespread and massive corruption, etc….

Moreover, the growth that GMA boasts of has bypassed the majority.  The SWS survey showed that the increase in hunger incidence last year was the highest recorded in recent history.

Further, unemployment and underemployment remain high.  More than a fourth of the labor force are either unemployed or underemployed. What is likewise not revealed by the official statistics is that the quality of employment for those who have work is poor.

For example, counted as among the employed are “those who do any work for one hour during the reference period for pay or profit, or work without pay on the farm or business enterprise operated by a member of the same household related by blood, marriage or adoption.”  (Definition comes from the National Statistical Coordination Board.)

In the same vein, many of those employed are engaged in activities, especially in rural areas, that have low productivity.  In the rural areas, much of the labor is unpaid. Poverty-level wages are the norm, even in urban areas.  The minimum wage cannot even be enforced.

So the irony is this: there is growth, stock market is bullish, hot money flows BUT there is an employment crisis, as productive sectors of the economy cannot generate enough high-productivity jobs.

What can then be done to spur investments for long-term growth and generate quality jobs?

It is mainly a political question (review the obstacles to investments, and the conclusion one gets is that the institutions are the prime culprit)…

In relation to economic policies, the key measures that should be done (measures that  GMA failed to do) are:

1. Increase spending for public investments that will strengthen the country’s resources; specifically give priority to spending on infrastructure, education, health and nutrition.  During GMA’s period, spending for these sectors has gone down in real term or in per capita terms.
2. Create conditions for higher productivity by providing ample budgetary and institutional support for research and technology, agriculture extension services, access to credit, and the like.
3. Address the perennial problem of low taxes by improving tax collection (instead of raising taxes that affect the poor), introducing progressive and equity-oriented consumption taxes, and reducing graft and corruption. GMA has mainly depended on under-spending and anti-poor taxation to narrow the fiscal deficit.
4. Arrest the further appreciation of the peso, which is harmful to Filipino exporters and producers for the domestic market (who have to compete with cheaper imports).  The strong peso also means less income for the OFW dependents.
5. Provide targeted incentives to investments that will create jobs and promote technological innovation, but making sure that such incentives lead to greater social benefits and will not be abused by vested interests. In this regard, an industrial and technology policy for the long term is required.
6. In the meantime, as a short-term measure, immediate relief has to be given to production, employment and income.  Among the options are correction of exchange rate, accessible credit, and a slight adjustment of tariffs (which are in fact very low).

Technorati Tags: elections, philippines, politics, president, Senate

Marcos in retrospect

Problems continue with the comments database of this blog. So sorry.

My Arab News column for this week is Marcos in Retrospect. In his blog, Versimiltude reflects on a quotation I presented in yesterday’s entry.

Some shrewd and biting commentary on candidates and their methods. See Jove Francisco for an eyewitness account of the administration rallies and campaign strategy (this is a marvelous entry to be sure); and Manuel Buencamino takes a satirical look (but based on actual quotes) of the messaging of the administration. Ellen Tordesillas examines the “millions of reasons” candidates are being given by various camps.

Inquirer.net has begun a series of podcasts with interviews of senatorial candidates: you can listen to Loren Legarda and Francis Escudero. You can also listen to Aquilino Pimentel III. The value added portion is that eventually, the CVs of candidates and transcripts will be published online, too: see the first, of the Pimentel interview, with parts one, two, and three.

Amando Doronila thinks the Senate’s role as training ground for presidents is waning, waning… But I’m not entirely convinced (though I recall my father telling me it would be more rational to consider governorships as training grounds: almost as many governors have become presidents as lawmakers, many having been both).

On the anti terrorism bill, recently passed, I have to deeply disagree with Philippine Commentary. Today’s Inquirer editorial takes a skeptical position about the soon-to-be law.

Technorati Tags: elections, Marcos, philippines, politics, president, Senate

Philippine political culture

There’s something wrong with the thingamajigs that manage the doohickies that handle the whatchamacallits that handle comments on this blog. Poop happens. The designer of this blog is working hard to fix it, hopefully all will be hunky-dory soon.

Tonight’s episode of The Explainer, since we’re approaching Edsa anniversary season, will be looking at Ferdinand E. Marcos in retrospect. There are a few quotations I used in the script that I think can serve as food for thought for today.

The first comes from the great writer and thinker Leon Ma. Guerrero, who supported Martial Law, and Marcos’ solution of a “revolution from the center,” at least in its early years. His description of the political system leading up to martial law remains the most widely-accepted framework for criticizing democracy in our country:

The experience of the Filipinos… had been of parties that were not parties but unprincipled coalitions of the rich, the powerful, and the unscrupulous; of elections that were essentially meaningless exercises in fraud, terrorism, bribery and demagoguery; of politicians who represented no one but themselves. The people’s capacity for self-government had been trapped in a political mechanism they had not learned to work or control, and their capacity for indignation and generosity, sacrifice and service to the country, left to wither and decay.

The solution adopted by Marcos and endorsed by Guerrero was first enunciated by President Jose P. Laurel to describe his philosophy of government in 1943:

The whole history of government shows that public affairs would be better administered and the welfare of the people better subserved in the hands of a moral and intellectual aristocracy. The people cannot be governors and governed at the same time… On the other hand, a good and efficient government, a benevolent government, may exist and continue indefinitely to function with admirable harmony, when men of superior moral and intellectual endowments are in control of the state.

The problem of course, is that who will ensure that the aristocracy will be of the mind and not a replacement oligarchy as greedy and stupid as what came before? And an unchallenged reformer can become a plunderer, too. This observation comes from an unnamed source, who served President Marcos, as quoted by James Hamilton-Patterson in his biography of Marcos:

I sometimes think he became bored… he was very greedy. Yet it wasn’t ordinary greed… I think he became bored a year or two after martial law because he didn’t really have that much daily governing to do… I quite favor the idea that crony capitalism as they call began… when some of those cronies began to work out cunning schemes with him he was seduced by the intellectual challenge of it… He really wanted to know what he could get away with. It’s a Filipino trait, this constant testing to see how far we can go. He loved all that.

And finally, a judgment from an American observer, the late American diplomat and historian Lew Gleeck, whose book on Marcos, “President Marcos and the Philippine Political Culture” (Lewis E. Gleeck)  I used as the general framework for the show. This is Gleeck’s summary of the limitations of the Philippine political culture:

The Philippine political culture is… personalistic but violent, religious but superstitious, corrupt but tolerant, hierarchical but distributionist, solicitous of form but not of content, legalistic, but careless of equity, media-obsessed and nationalistically vociferous with respect to rights but negligent to obligations.

I think, painful as it sounds, that summary says it all.

I’ve been catching up with the blogs over the past few days. Mongster’s Nest is the designated congressman-to-be if his party list succeeds (I believe the immediate objective is 100,000 votes). Read a recent speech he delivered that tries to debunk the notion that young people are politically unengaged. The Warrior Lawyer points out why he thinks Manny Pacquiao will lose. Bunker Chronicles comments on the overprinting of ballots. Speaking of ballots, Iloilo City Boy delves into vote-padding and shaving. A must-read, not least because of other points he raises: the linguistic nuances of candidates’ nicknames, for example..

When it comes to the national elections, Unlawyer makes this observation from the point of view of an entrepreneur:

The administration’s candidates may be feeling cocky with the slew of recent positive economic news, in the form of an appreciating peso and lower interest rates, but the business community isn’t about to forget that it came solely as the result of higher taxes and not out of any real gains in productivity.

The opposition is not in a better position either. It may be banking on discontent with the present government, especially the legitimacy of President Gloria Macapagal Arroryo’s 2004 elections, but milking anti-GMA sentiments can only take them so far.

Until that time comes to pass, when both camps are ready with their plans for the next six years, most businessmen will sit and wait it out until they pass judgment and choose whom to vote for.

blurry brain has some recommended readings (as well as a reiteration of his twofold solution to the crisis of leadership: genuine trade liberalization and improved education.

Istambay sa Mindanao presents briefings on the national economy and poverty and security in Mindanao.
Vincula remarks on recent ironies in our national politics.

Ang Kape ni Latex points to a new government regulation that puts tutors in a precarious position -one solved only through the usual government-sanctioned method: extortion through fees. A Nagueño in the Blogosphere reacts to my Monday column by pointing out another necessary reform. Apparently congressman in the Visayas have taken it upon themselves to dictate teacher appointments:

let me propose another specific prohibition for consideration under that proposed law: putting an end to the silent practice allowing congressmen to practically appoint public school teachers to new permanent items that are being funded annually in the national budget…

…this anomaly, where division superintendents defer to a list emanating from powerful congressmen in appointing teachers, came up during the annual Synergeia retreat I attended. The Iloilo mayors were particularly vocal about this demoralizing practice, complaining that unqualified applicants — backed by the congressman — usually end up getting the available items, to the consternation of more experienced and better suited ones.

Geronimo Cristobal Jr. looks at traditions at the PMA, while Sensibilities looks at a new glossy magazine for those interested in SWAT team stuff.

Another Hundred Years Hence looks at press releases on the revived Pasig River ferry. I’d first heard about this project two Christmases ago; this was at the height of the political crisis and the person who told me about it, used the project as an example of how the bureaucracy was slowly chugging along, despite the higher-ups being distracted. The plan, from what I’ve heard, is pretty nifty: for example, the boats are designed to slice through the water lilies that regularly choke the Pasig and which used to foul up the propellers of the old ferries.

And Punzi loves what I love, too: Napoleones.

Overseas, History Unfolding thinks gerrymandering by American congressmen hasn’t worked out in their favor as originally assumed. The Philippine version of gerrymandering, of course, is the creation of new provinces.

Technorati Tags: Blogging, elections, explainer on anc, Marcos, military, philippines, politics, president, Senate, society

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